Justice
by liveforthefight
Summary: Sara meets a teenage girl while working a rape case, and when the case gets more complicated the events that ensue will not only change the victim's and Sara's lives, but Catherine's life as well. S/C in later chapters. T for content and subject matter.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So this is a random idea I got… I'm back into my CSI obsession, and this idea has been haunting and pestering me for a while, so I decided to write it. Summary says it all. C/S pairing in later chapters, don't like, don't read.

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI. I wish I did though. Maybe someone can buy it for me for a late Christmas present?

"426 Sara. Try to keep your head on the case. I want you to catch the guy, but it would be better if you didn't get written up again for tearing him a new one."

Sara Sidle rolled her eyes. "Okay Grissom. Geez." She took the slip that Grissom was holding out, and stalked out of the break room, annoyed at the implications that she wouldn't be able to control herself. Then she read the slip, and understood completely. This guy deserved worse than anything she could inflict on him. A high school teacher had assaulted a 14 year old student. Maybe Grissom was right about this…but then why did he give her this case? Not that she would have it any other way. She never wanted to be treated as if she was weak, or incapable of working certain cases just because she had a personal connection to most of these victims that most of the other CSIs would hopefully never be able to understand. Grissom was probably just adhering to her wishes. That or he was just out of CSIs. Also possible, considering the overflow of cases that they had been getting lately. The holidays tended to do that to people. It was a little sickening actually.

It had been a while since Sara had gotten to work solo, and she reveled in her undisputed control over the radio as she drove to East Las Vegas Junior/Senior High School, blasting Linkin Park. Only the old stuff though, she had no patience whatsoever for their newer mainstream fluff. She sang along with the angry lyrics with more force than she generally would, knowing that what she was going to have to do in a few minutes would probably ruin the good mood she had been in over the past few weeks, and only further her already negative views of humanity.

She arrived at the school a few minutes sooner than she wanted to, and got out of the car with a sigh, kit in tow. She maneuvered towards the senior high school, and found her way to the principal's office area, following the signs that reminded her too much of prison. The female principal met her at the door, a grim expression set on her face. "Are you CSI?" she asked shortly.

"Sara Sidle." Sara stated in affirmation.

"Cate Dillon. Senior High Principal. The girl is right this way."

Sara followed the harsh looking woman deeper into the multilayered office. When they got into the back room she got her first glimpse of the girl. She looked shocked, and her eyes were red-rimmed, but she wasn't crying, and her jaw was set stubbornly, as if she was determined not to start again, regardless of how warranted it would have been under the circumstances.

Sara looked at the principal standing next to her "Maybe you should wait outside," she suggested, "this is going to be painful enough for her without an audience."

Cate nodded curtly and walked away without another word. _There's something weird about her,_ Sara mused quickly before entering the small room and shutting the door quietly behind her. "My name is Sara Sidle, I work for the crime lab," she started gently, not wanting to frighten the girl any more. She had suffered enough for one lifetime, let alone one day. "What's your name?"

"Mary, Mary Sherman."

"It's nice to meet you Mary, although I'd rather it were under better circumstances"

The girl half smiled at this "I'm sure you get that a lot as a CSI, you probably don't meet people under good circumstances…ever."

Sara smirked "Yeah, perks of the job and all that… So, do you mind telling me what happened before we go to the hospital to get you checked out?"

"Can I just tell you on the way there? I don't want to be in this building anymore" Mary's voice trembled a little bit, revealing the fear that she was trying to hide.

Sara smiled comfortingly and stood up "Absolutely, whatever makes you most comfortable Mary. My car's right outside."

They walked out of the office again, and past the abnormally calm looking principal. Mary shrunk as they passed the woman, and refused to look at her. Sara took that under notice but said nothing about it, chances are it would get out in time if it was relevant.

They got to the car and got in, strapping themselves in. Without prompting Mary began to speak. "I was sitting in class, Math, it was the last period of the day, when Mr. Manson started making sexual comments about me."

Sara cringed, despite the fact that she wasn't supposed to get emotionally involved with the victims. "What did he say?"

Mary's voice shook, and Sara could see her hands beginning to join her voice when she began to speak again "he said I looked 'sexy today' and then he started talking about a woman's place in society, that women didn't belong in the work force, that the day women were allowed to vote was the day that the country went to hell… That kind of stuff. I told him to stop. He kept going. I told him to stop again, but he didn't. Then class ended."

Sara gave her a sympathetic glance. "What happened next?"

"The bell rang, and I went to leave, but I dropped my books because I was rushing so much, and by the time I had picked everything up the rest of the class had left, and Mr. Manson was standing between me and the door." Mary paused, as if waiting for another question, or unable to go on. Sara suspected the latter. Soon she continued though, as if the growing silence posed as great a threat to her as the onslaught of memories she was facing did. "I tried to move around him, but he grabbed my arm. He said he wanted me to stay for disciplinary action. He said that I 'had no right to call him out in class' and that he was giving me detention. Then he closed and locked the door, there was a black sheet of paper put over the glass, so we couldn't see outside during class time. But that meant that no one could see in, either. I went to sit back down at my desk, hoping it really was just detention, but I already knew he was a sicko from the last time-"

Sara couldn't help herself from interrupting, though she tried not to inject in the middle of a running statement as a matter of policy. "What do you mean last time, had this happened before?"

Mary shook her head "Only words. Harassment. He made sexist comments about women on a daily basis, and made sexual remarks and advancements towards me almost as often. I reported him multiple times, but Ms. Dillon either didn't believe me or didn't care. He threatened me a few times, and I tried to explain how the situation was escalating to her, but the staff at that school protect their own, and they don't like press, or criminalists for that matter, sniffing around. Anyway, before I could sit down he grabbed me again, and shoved me down onto his desk, covering my mouth with his hand. I fought him, I bit down on his hand but he didn't let up. I tried to scream, but obviously no one heard me. He punched me, and threw me off the desk onto the floor. Then he pulled my clothes off and raped me. Before he left, he told me that if I told anyone, he'd kill my family, and kill me. But I couldn't listen to him. I waited until I was sure he was gone, then I ran out of the room and down to the principal's office. She didn't want to believe me, but she kind of had to at that point. That's where you come in I guess. She didn't ask me many questions, just told me to wait for CSI to show up. So I did."

Sara felt her anger rising, both at the sick pervert who thought it was okay to have, and act on, sexual desires for a fourteen year old girl, and at the principal who clearly didn't care as long as her ass wasn't on the line, but she was careful to keep it out of her voice as she spoke her next question so as not to make Mary think that any of this was her fault. "You mean your principal ignored multiple reports of sexual harassment?"

"Yes." The tears had started to stream down Mary's face, despite her obvious efforts to keep them from falling. "But it's worse than that. She told him everything I told her, and when he asked for it she gave him my name, address, and phone number."

Sara's eyebrows raised in shock. "She had no right to do that to you," she said softly, "and that, by the way, is a felony in and of itself. We'll make sure to look into that in the process of our investigation. Until then I'm going to need your address so that the police can make sure that your family is safe."

A strange look crossed over Mary's face, but she answered. "It's just my dad and I. We live at 236746 Freemont Street."

"Okay, thanks. I'll send that to the detectives, they'll check on your dad and post a uniform at your house until we have Mr. Manson in custody. I'm sure your dad will be fine. If Mr. Manson tries to get him, we'll just arrest him that much faster." Sara wondered about the strange look that had ended up on Mary's face when she asked about her dad, but figured it wasn't her business to ask. She made the quick phone call to Brass, then went back to her questioning. "I know this is probably really painful for you, but did he use a condom while he was raping you?"

"No, he didn't. I scratched him too, so there's probably a bit of him under my nails."

Sara looked at Danielle curiously "You know a thing or two about forensics?" It was more an observation than a question.

Mary smiled shyly. "I like to study things, in my spare time. Forensics always interested me. I…want to be a CSI someday. That way I can make sure there's a little more justice in this world."

The smile that crossed over Sara's face briefly was more ironic than sincere, but that didn't mean she didn't admire the girl, only that she knew the job was more than just bringing justice to victims. It was a lot more painful than that, but Mary would understand that better than most at this point, being a victim herself. Even if they did catch the guy and manage to get him punished to the fullest extent of the law (which didn't happen often) there could be no justice, because there was no justice in what had been done to her. She hadn't deserved to have her innocence stripped away, and nothing could make that any better.

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter. I know it's short, but I didn't want to go into the hospital scene just yet. Besides, I'm anticipating this being a rather long fic, with a lot of interesting details, so I just wanted to give you the first taste of that with this chapter. More to come soon, I'm on break from school so I'll have time to update fairly frequently for a while. Besides, I'm snowed in right now, so there's even more time. Let me know what you think so far!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well, I promised you guys quick updates, at least for a while, so here's the next chapter. Thanks to Jits- my one reviewer. 84 hits, and one reviewer. This one's for you!

They pulled up to the hospital soon after, and exited the Denali. Sara noticed that Mary was moving slowly, though whether because of pain or dread for what was coming next she couldn't tell. She kept pace with the younger girl, and neither said anything for a few moments. Then Mary broke the silence. "What are they going to do to me in there?"

"They're going to examine your body for trace, then do a sexual exam to see if Manson left any of his sperm behind. You can refuse any part of the exam if you want, but the more evidence we have against this guy, the more likely it is that we'll be able to convict him." Sara, though never the most tactful person out there, tried not to sound too blunt while still respecting Mary enough to tell her the truth.

Mary's chin set in determination. "I'm going to do this. I want him behind bars so he can't do this to anyone else."

Sara put her hand on the young blonde's shoulder in a gesture of comfort as they walked through the doors of the hospital. Soon a forensic nurse came to do the SAE kit on Mary. "Sara," the girl asked softly "will you…come with me?"

"Sure." The nurse gave the CSI a questioning look, but the glare she got back was enough to convince the RN that she could afford the slight breach of protocol more than she could afford the loss of limb that would clearly occur if she decided to argue the point.

The next hour was torture for both women. Mary, for obvious reasons, and Sara, because she knew how awful it was to have to go through an exam like that so soon after being violated. She watched the tears stream silently down Mary's face as she held the CSI's hand in a death grip, and could barely keep the tears from falling herself both from sympathy towards the girl, and from her own memories. Some things never stop haunting you.

Finally the exam was over. "We just have to take her for x-rays." The nurse stated, " and this time you really can't come with us."

Sara nodded. "I'll wait here." She watched with tears glistening in her eyes as Mary followed the nurse down to the x-ray unit. As soon as they had disappeared around the corner, the first tear fell despite her efforts to repress them. She could almost hear Grissom's voice saying that she wasn't supposed to get involved with the victims, or Ecklie's voice calling her a loose cannon, but honestly, how was she not supposed to care about the victim, or feel bad for her? How was she supposed to collect evidence without any emotion when a fourteen year old girl had just had the epitome of her innocence stolen violently from her by a forty year old man? Maybe Grissom didn't ever have to feel emotion, and Ecklie just didn't care, but she did.

Sara took the time that she was alone to calm herself down, at least enough that she wouldn't be visibly upset in front of the victim. She didn't need that. Besides, she had told Grissom that she would try to stay professional, and she would. At least on the outside.

Ten, maybe fifteen minutes later the nurse came back, but Mary wasn't with her. "Ms. Sidle, I need to speak with you" she said without bothering with any preface.

"What's going on?" Sara asked with concern. "Is Mary alright?"

The nurse paused for a moment, as if to express how ridiculous that question was. "Relatively? Yes. But she showed signs of previous physical abuse. Healed fractures, burn marks, cuts, you name it, it's happened to her at some point in the past few years."

Sara exhaled sharply. "Were there signs of previous sexual trauma?"

The nurse shook her head. "No, that's the only thing I didn't find in her exam and x-rays. This was her only sexual encounter, and it was obviously rape as she stated. The clock exam says as much. I collected skin samples from under her fingernails and also a sperm sample. I photographed the bruising on her arm also, since clear handprints had appeared. I seriously hope that helps you catch this guy. This is really really sick."

"Wait, hang on a second," the CSI interjected, sensing the nurse about to end the conversation, "Do you think this prior abuse was from her rapist, or from a parent?"

"Definitely a parent. I can trace some of these fractures back ten years, and she said she had only known her rapist for four months." The nurse's tone was amazingly impartial, although Sara knew that some people just became immune to such things when they saw them day to day. She was never one of them, but in a way she understood it. It was a coping mechanism.

"Thanks. Where's Mary? It looks like I'm going to have to take her back to the lab with me for a while until this gets figured out."

The nurse gave her a quizzical look. "You're not going to call Child Services?"

"Not yet. I have to build a case against her father before I do, and the best way to do that would be to get her to admit abuse. She's more likely to do that with me than with a social worker who cares more about getting it done than getting it right" Sara answered firmly, although she was no longer sure of what she was going to do about the situation. It seemed to be going straight downhill, not only was this a rape case but it was also an abuse case, and Sara could see herself getting more and more attached to the victim, who one way or another she was going to have to send into the same system that she herself had come out of. There was no way this could end well.

The nurse seemed to accept that answer, without noticing the growing confusion in Sara's voice. "Okay, she's right this way" and started walking towards the x-ray unit without another word or a look behind her. Sara walked quickly to keep up with the nurse, and soon enough came to the room where Mary was waiting. She saw the girl sitting, looking lonely and afraid, in a hospital chair outside of the x-ray room and called her name softly. Mary stood up immediately and walked outside of the unit. "Mary, I'm going to need you to come with me to the crime lab for a while, just to answer a few more questions okay?" She nodded. "Do you want me to call your father?" It was a loaded question as far as Sara was concerned, but Mary's response would tell her something.

"No, it's fine" Mary answered shortly. _Interesting_, Sara thought, _Well, it doesn't prove abuse, but it doesn't do anything to disprove it either. I would think normally a girl would want her family with her during a time like this. _

"Alright, whatever you feel comfortable with."

The girl and the CSI walked out to the car again, and began the drive to the LVPD crime lab. Sara looked at Mary at one point in the drive and couldn't help but notice that the girl seemed to be going a bit catatonic, which was probably a result of the stress of the day. Unfortunately, Sara couldn't let the girl slip away just yet. She had to find out about the abuse before she was legally obligated to release Mary to her father.

"Mary, I know you've had a really long day and you probably don't feel like talking anymore, but I have a couple more questions for you. The nurse said that she saw evidence of previous physical abuse on your body during the examination process. Does your father hurt you?"

Mary looked like a deer in the headlights "No!" she answered, but the lie was obvious in her eyes.

Sara softened her tone a bit from professional to personal. "It's okay, you can tell me. I'm just trying to help you."

"What if he told me he would kill me if I told anyone, especially cops?"

Sara cringed, knowing all too well the position that the girl was in. "Honey, I promise that I will do everything in my power to keep him from hurting you again. You just have to tell me so that I can make a case against your father. Without your statement, it's really hard to get a conviction, but with it I promise you we can get him put away." Then she lightened her voice. "Besides, you know almost as well as I do that a CSI is not a cop."

The joke didn't quite work with Mary, but it was enough to get her to say the words that she had been keeping to herself since age four. "Okay. My father abuses me. It started when he and my mom got divorced. He blamed me for it. For a while it wasn't that bad. My mom had custody so I didn't see him that often. Then when my mom died when I was six, the court put me in his custody. That's when it really started. Sometimes he'd hit me. Other time's he'd break bones. When he got really angry he'd burn me with his cigarettes, or take a knife to me. Every time he'd give me an excuse to give my teachers, or to the doctors when it was obvious that I had to go to the hospital. No one ever figured it out. People often questioned me, but I knew what to say, and knew what would happen to me if I didn't. Besides, he told me what the system was like. He told me that there were people in there who were far worse than him. That they would kill me, or worse."

Sara pulled the Denali over so that she could look at the young blonde girl properly. "Mary, I give you my word that I will find a way that you will be safe. I won't let you go into an unsafe home. I've been in the system, and I promise you I'll find a way to keep you safe."

"Really?" Mary was in tears now, the weight of everything that had happened crushing down upon her, and the idea of maybe being safe now pushing her over the edge.

"I won't let anything like this happen to you again. You're going to be okay." Sara meant what she said, although she had no idea how she was going to keep her promises, only that she was, no matter what it took.

A/N: Well, chapter number two. The next chapter should bring Catherine into play, as well as possibly other members of the team. And at least one more of my own characters if all goes as planned.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Chapter Three…

When Sara and Mary pulled into the lab parking lot a while later, they were both emotionally exhausted. Sara still had no idea what she was going to do, or how she could possibly help Mary or protect her from the sick type of people who tended to get involved in the foster care system, but she was just as determined as before that she was going to find a way. And when Sara Sidle got determined, no one and nothing could get in her way.

They walked into the lab, Sara pointedly ignoring the questioning looks that they both got from the gossip-obsessed lab techs. She led Mary to the break room where she sat her down and offered her a coke. "I'll be right back okay? I just have to check on something." Mary nodded and Sara walked out of the break room, straight towards Grissom's office. She figured her supervisor should probably know that she had the girl from her case sitting in the lab.

She got to the office and knocked on the door. When Grissom opened she made her way in, and they both sat down in silence. "Have you got a minute?" she opened.

"Sure, what's going on? Is it about the case?" he queried.

Sara sighed "Yeah. Sort of. It got a lot more complicated than a 426."

Grissom looked confused now. "How do you mean?"

"The girl? Well, she was raped. By her teacher no less. And there was plenty of physical evidence there, as well as her testimony, but the nurse who did her SARD kit also found evidence of previous physical abuse. She lives alone with her father, and she admitted to me that her father abuses her, but that she was under threat of death if she told anyone. Oh and the teacher is probably gunning for the father as we speak, although Brass told me he would have a uniform posted there by the end of the night."

"Woah woah, slow down," the night shift supervisor insisted. "I see what you mean about being more complicated than you expected, but why is this such a problem. Finish collecting the evidence, make sure that uniform gets posted, and call child services."

Sara cringed "That's where the problem comes in."

"What?"

"I can't call child services," Sara insisted, "this girl has been through enough already without having to be tortured by the sick bastards in the system."

Grissom shot her a harsh look. "You've got to be kidding me Sara. You are not getting emotionally involved with another victim. It is our job to process the evidence, to bring justice to the victims, it is not to make sure every victim who passes through here has a safe and happy future Sara. You know that's impossible."

"Maybe it is Grissom, but she's special."

"Sara, we've had this conversation before. If you don't find a way to deal with this, they'll all become special. You'll be spending all of your time worrying about the victims instead of trying to catch the killers." Grissom, while genuinely concerned about his younger CSI, also needed to impress upon her the importance of staying detached on cases like this.

Sara's tone changed drastically from argumentative to desperate. "Grissom, I didn't come in here to fight with you. I came in here to ask you for advice. I know that you don't get involved in cases the way I do, but this girl really means something to me. Is there any way I can help her?"

"Help her by doing your job Sara. If you're looking for something more than that, talk to Catherine. She's better with this stuff than I am." Sara recognized her dismissal and stood up to leave, wondering how she had ever managed to fall in love with that man, and glad suddenly that he had rejected her. They would never have been able to see eye to eye.

"Thanks Grissom." She meant it, but not for his lack of help with Mary. She meant it for his recognition of their incompatibility back when she had been too blind to see it.

Sara stalked down the hallway, anger evident in her face to any who made the mistake of standing in her path. She hated feeling like she had no options, more even than most people, because it made her feel trapped.

She had meant to go back to the break room, hoping to find out something from Mary that would enable her to help the girl, but instead found herself in the locker room. Not entirely surprising, she had always considered the locker room her refuge. When a case would get to be too much for her but she couldn't go home yet, she would go into the dark, quiet locker room for a few minutes and just breathe. Usually that would help her find her center again. Unconsciously she sat down on the bench, but ended up laying down across it with her hand over her eyes as she felt the immediate onslaught of a migraine taking hold.

She laid there in agony for a few minutes, trying to breathe, and maybe at some point find the motivation to get up, but couldn't do anything but stay very very still. Then she heard someone come into the locker room, and tried to sit up or something so that no one would see her in a compromising position, but as soon as she sat up she felt herself slump over, head in her lap.

"Sara?" She heard a voice ask. She knew she recognized the voice, but she couldn't place it. "Sara its Catherine, can you hear me?"

She groaned as quietly as she could in response. "Sara what's wrong?"

"Migraine. Stress" Sara muttered, unable to get anything else out.

She heard Catherine walk out of the room, and come back a few moments later. "Take these," the blonde woman said, handing Sara two pills and helping her take them, "It's immitrex, I always keep some with me just in case."

Sara took the pills then laid back down, waiting for them to take effect. She felt Catherine's presence still in the room, but didn't have the energy to say anything. When the pills began to work, she sat up gingerly and looked at the other CSI. "Thanks. I usually keep my prescription with me, but I ran out the other day and hadn't had time to get them refilled."

"Anytime. What's stressing you out that much Sara?" Catherine sounded concerned.

She groaned mildly before answering. "I'm on this case… Fourteen year old girl got raped by her forty year old teacher, then the nurse at the hospital turned up signs of previous physical abuse. The girl admitted it was her father, her mother's dead… I want to help her Catherine. I can't stand the idea of someone else going through what I did…"

Catherine looked at the brunette woman with confusion. "What do you mean, you don't want her going through what you went through?"

Sara sighed, but knew she had to answer now. "My father abused me when I was a kid. He screamed at me, hit me, and eventually he started raping me. One day, my mother couldn't take it anymore. She killed my father, stabbed him thirteen times. They took her away, locked her up in a mental hospital actually for her schizophrenia. I was twelve at the time. I spent the rest of my childhood in the system, and frankly Catherine, what happened to me there was worse than what my father did to me in some ways. I don't want Mary going through the same thing."

Catherine took the brunette's hand. "Sara, you know you only have two choices here. You can put her in the system and check up on her from time to time, try to make sure she's okay, or you can adopt her."

Sara's head snapped up. She hadn't thought of that. "Do you think they'd let me?"

"Why not Sara? You're competent, you've got a steady job, and you clearly care about this girl. Not to mention DCS would probably be thrilled. It's one less mouth that they have to worry about feeding, and no one else would probably want to take her. Most adoptive parents want kids who are under five years old, you know that. So you'd be doing her, and them, a big favor. But it's also a big responsibility. She's going to need a lot of help." Catherine saw the determination in her coworkers eyes, and could see that her mind was already made up.

"I know, but at least I can make sure she gets that help."

"Then I'm here for you Sara," stated Catherine, "Whatever you need, I'll help you with. If nothing else I can probably give you some advice. But first of all you need to keep yourself from getting ahead of the evidence. You've got to haul this bastard in and question him, then make sure he gets arrested. And you've gotta work on catching the teacher who hurt her as well. Make that your priority for now, then worry about child services. For now, call them and put in a temporary request for custody, until you get things sorted out with the two cases, that way you don't have all the legalities hanging over your head just yet."

Sara nodded, understanding that this was the type of process you really can't rush. "Thanks Cat. I'll keep you posted."

"If you want, I can work the case with you. I just wrapped my 419, so I'm available. That way I can meet her, and maybe take some of the load off of you," Catherine offered, truly wanting to help the other CSI deal with jumping headfirst into motherhood as best she could.

"Thanks. I don't know if I could process all of this myself and handle everything else." Sara looked relieved. Now she didn't have to worry about the case quite as much.

The two women walked together back to the break room now, Sara informing Catherine about all of the physical evidence that they had collected at the hospital as they walked. When they reached the break room though they found an amusing sight- Mary was sitting right where Sara had left her, but Nick and Greg were there as well, telling the girl all of the embarrassing Sara stories that had popped up over the years.

"Oh and then there was the time that she worked herself so hard that she actually fell asleep on a book in the middle of the break room… That was priceless" inserted Nick, clearly adding to what had been a long stream of stories.

Sara cleared her throat as she walked into the room to reveal two very guilty looking male CSI's, and a slightly more alive looking Mary. "Gentlemen…" Sara said in a mock serious tone, "are you corrupting children again?"

The boys laughed nervously, not sure if they were out of the woods or not. Mary saved them though "No, they were just trying to make me feel better. I guess I looked dejected in here or something."

Nick and Greg both looked quite proud of themselves, and Sara and Catherine watched as their chests swelled up to inhuman proportions. "See Sara, we were just being your average everyday heroes. And why, might I ask, did you leave her alone?" Greg tried to turn the tide on Sara. That was almost never a good idea, but she let it slide again, not wanting to make Mary feel uncomfortable.

"Oh I had to talk to Grissom, then I ran into Catherine, and the rest, they say, is-"

Sara never got to finish her clichéd line however, because her phone blaring out its loud obnoxious ringtone interrupted her in the middle of a thought. "Sidle?" She answered.

"Sara, it's Brass. There's been a bit of a problem at the house of your 426 victim."

The tone of Sara's voice said it all. "What kind of problem?" she growled, voice dripping with anger.

"The father? He's dead."

Sara almost dropped the phone. "You mean to tell me" she nearly snarled, "that my 426 just turned into a 419?" She used the numbers so that Mary wouldn't know what was going on just yet. She wanted to tell her in a slightly more gentle way than the tone she was taking at the time with the police captain.

"I'm afraid so."

"What exactly happened to the uniform?" Sara toned down the anger but substituted it with a deliberate tone that left nothing to interpretation.

Brass sounded exhausted, and more than a little sheepish. "Uhm… Well… We were a little late posting him I guess. I had about a thousand other cases, I figured it could wait.. I'm really sorry Sara."

"Well, nothing to do about it now. I'll be out to process in less than an hour, I have a couple things left to do here." Sara left it at that, and hung up.

Catherine looked at her questioningly. Sara responded by saying "Catherine, Mary, I need you guys outside if you don't mind."

Nick and Greg however, got up themselves and left, taking the none-too-subtle hint. "Thanks guys." Catherine called out to their retreating forms.

"Mary, this is Catherine Willows, my colleague. She's going to be helping me on your case." Sara made the introductions first, figuring it would be better to get that out of the way.

"Nice to meet you," Mary said quietly.

Catherine smiled at the girl reassuringly, "you too," she responded.

Sara started up again, getting ready to change the girl's life even more than it had already been shaken in one day. "Mary, I have something to tell you, and I don't know how you're going to take it, but you have the right to know. Mary, your father's dead."

The look of shock barely hit Mary's face before she fell over onto the floor in a dead faint.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks to my few reviewers, I really appreciate the positive feedback. It's always nice to know that I'm doing something right :) I know I gave you guys two updates yesterday; you might only get one today unfortunately. Now that I'm no longer snowed in I actually have things that I have to do outside of writing fanfics.

Mary woke up on the couch in the break room with Sara and Catherine talking to her. "Is it true?" she asked quietly, still barely conscious.

Sara nodded, and Mary started to cry. "I know I should be happy about this," Mary sobbed, "but he was still my father. I loved him, despite everything he did to me."

"I understand Mary, I do. The same thing happened to me. But now you know you're safe, and that he can't hurt you anymore. That's good, right?" Sara asked, trying to make the girl feel better, though she knew it was impossible. She had been through so much in one day, it was impossible to come to terms with all of that at once.

The young blonde girl nodded. "Was it Manson? Who killed him, I mean."

"Probably," Sara stated, "But I have to go process the scene to be sure. I promise you, I'll find him though. I'll get him put away for life, for what he did to you, and for what he did to your father." Her mouth soured a bit at the word father, knowing that the girl shouldn't have been feeling any sympathy for her abuser, but knowing also that Stockholm Syndrome was common in child abuse cases, especially cases where it was just the child and the abuser in the house. That kind of environment created a sense of mutual need which was the perfect breeding ground for the syndrome. Then she gave Catherine a questioning look, and when Catherine returned her gaze with one of assurance, she said "Catherine's going to stay here with you and wait for the other evidence to come back while I go process the other scene okay?"

Mary nodded silently, and Sara rested her hand on the girls shoulder comfortingly before walking out of the room, and out to her car. She drove the Mary's house and walked under the crime scene tape after flashing her credentials at the officer. The sight she got when she walked in the door was almost enough to make her loose her lunch. The man, clearly Mary's father, was lying in the living room, a victim of what looked like ten, maybe eleven stab wounds. But the disturbing part was on the wall to the left of the body. Written in blood were the words. "I told you I would kill him. Catch me if you can. E Manson."

Sara started with the body, snapping photographs from every angle, but she found no evidence. Then she moved towards the wall, and took a sample of the blood after photographing the entire message for court. She looked for latent prints in the blood but there were none to be found. Then she moved towards the bedroom, following the blood trail that ended with the body. In there she found, to her great surprise, a bloody knife. She photographed it then dusted it for prints- there was one in plain sight. _This is too easy, _ Sara thought, _it's almost as if he wants to get caught. But then why would he be so careful in the living room, just to leave me all of the evidence I need to convict him in the bedroom? _She didn't have time to analyze it further however because before she could continue, she felt a sharp blow to the back of her head and fell forward. She stood up immediately and turned to face her attacker. She didn't know for sure, but she had to guess it was Manson.

He swung at her with his right arm, but Sara's martial arts training kicked in and she blocked, before throwing him down on the floor in a huge shoulder throw. She didn't anticipate that he would be smart enough to grab her foot and drag her down with him. She rolled on top of him screaming "SUSPECT ON LOCATION", hoping that the officer who was standing guard at the door would hear her. He went to wrap his hands around her throat, but she punched him square in the head, then jumped up, wanting higher ground. He wasn't out yet though. He jumped up too, and lunged at her, shoving her backwards into a wall. Then he pulled another knife and sliced at her. He was aiming at her throat, but she dodged just in time, and he only managed to take a slice out of her forearm. Then she kneed him in the groin, and threw him down on the ground again, face first, before locking his arm behind him in a shoulder lock. "You're under arrest asshole" she muttered, not caring that she didn't technically have the authority to arrest a suspect.

That was the moment that the on-scene officer decided to run into the room to find out what was going on. "Jesus Sidle, what'd I miss?" He looked incredulous.

"Arrest him. Then we'll chat." She was still hyped up on adrenaline, and more than a little pissed off.

The officer got right to it, apparently trying to make up for lost time. "Sir, you are under arrest for assaulting a law enforcement officer, as well as for suspicion of the rape of a minor, and the murder of John Sherman. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you by the state. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

The man spat on the ground in affirmation, and was carted off by the backup officers who had just arrived on scene. Once he was out of the room and the other officers were gone, Sara looked at the first officer on scene. "Smith isn't it?" She asked, looking at his name plate.

"Yes Ma'am. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, I had to call for backup and all that."

She gave him an angry look "That's not what I'm concerned about. What I want to know is why you didn't follow the proper procedure for clearing a scene?"

He looked sheepish. "It had been a long night… I walked into all the rooms, I didn't hear anything, I figured no one was there. Clearly I made a grave misjudgment."

"Clearly," Sara responded bluntly. "You do realize I'm going to have to report this to your Captain, right?"

He nodded "Of course Ms. Sidle. I really am sorry."

"I know you are, and I know you'll be more careful next time, but seriously Smith, that could have had much worse consequences than it did. Luckily, I know martial arts, so I was able to subdue him without shooting a potential rape and murder suspect, but otherwise that could have ended really badly. Keep that in mind." Sara made her point rather harshly, but she had to impress upon the rookie officer the stupidity of what he had done.

Officer Smith was at this point looking like he was nearly on the verge of tears, as well as more than a little green. "Ms Sidle… you're bleeding…"

Sara looked down at her arm that was finally beginning to burn. "Ah so I am. Alright Smith I'm done tearing you a new one…Just think next time" she said, significantly more kindly than before.

"Oh absolutely Ms. Sidle. Do you want me to call paramedics for you?" Smith was a little too eager to help at this point, although Sara could tell he meant well and was just trying to make amends.

She smirked. "No thanks, I'll just take care of this on my own. It's not that bad anyway." With that, she finished processing the scene, both the primary and secondary, and drove back to the lab.

She was about to get out of the car when she noticed that she was dripping blood all over herself. She grabbed the first aid kid in the back of the Denali and wrapped up her forearm so that she wouldn't be any gorier of a sight than she already was, then walked back into the crime lab, only to be practically assaulted by Catherine. "Sara, I got your results…what the hell happened to you?"

"Suspect on location, responding officer didn't clear the scene. I apprehended the suspect, tore the primary a new one, processed the scene, and here I am. The only thing I didn't get to do was change out of my blood soaked clothes."

Catherine looked at the brunette with a mixture of shock and admiration. "Wow. Busy couple of hours. You sure you're alright?"

Sara nodded. "Yep, he barely scratched me."

"That's a LOT of blood for a scratch," Catherine remarked suspiciously.

Sara smirked "Okay, maybe slightly more than a scratch. But seriously, it wasn't that bad. Now, results?"

"DNA of the semen matched the skin samples from under the vic's fingernails, and they brought up a hit in CODIS. Erik Manson. Prior for DUI when he was 22, probably not enough to keep the school from hiring him. They're understaffed, or so Lindsay tells me, so they were probably desperate." Catherine stated the results just like she would for any other victim, professionally and without a hint of emotion, but the pride in her voice revealed just how happy she was to give Sara the good news.

"So we've got him for rape. That's good," stated the CSI, "but I want him for murder too. That way he's behind bars for life. I got prints at the scene from a bloody knife, I just need to submit the blood and prints from the scene, then hopefully we can wrap this one."

Catherine laughed, "Woah, hang on. You're coming dangerously close to crunching evidence to fit a theory."

Sara looked indignant. "No, I'm just hoping that what the scene said to me is true."

"Yeah okay, I believe you, totally."

With that, the two laughing women walked off down the lab. Sara dropped off her evidence, and Catherine filled her in about Mary. "She seems to be doing pretty well," the blonde woman stated in response to Sara's questions, "all things considered. She sat in the break room reading for a while, then she ran into Greg and started watching him do paperwork. She's really into forensics isn't she?"

"Yeah she is. She wants to be a CSI. I can't believe she finds paperwork interesting though…ugh."

"Oh, anything's interesting the first ten or twenty times. It's when it becomes so much a part of your life that it haunts you in your dreams that it becomes a problem" Catherine stated, as seriously as she could make it with the smirk creeping into her lips.

Sara laughed out loud "True enough I guess." Then she was interrupted by her cell phone ringing yet again. "Sidle?"

"Sara its Brass. Sorry to keep bothering you, but the guy we brought in from your scene is in fact Eric Manson. Thought you'd want to know."

"Thanks Brass," she responded, "Book him for assault and rape. If all goes well we'll have the evidence to book him for murder as well by the end of the night. And I want to talk to him."

Brass's voice immediately sounded wary, but he didn't really have the authority to deny her her request either. "Alright. Let me know when you want to have your little chat and I'll arrange it. Hey, how did he get into your scene anyway?"

"Smith made a bit of a miscalculation when clearing the scene. I talked to him, I don't think he'll make the same mistake again." Sara covered for the man, knowing that if she made it seem like he had been negligent he would be facing a suspension without pay on top of the ball bashing she had already given him.

Brass exhaled, sounding relieved. "So in your opinion there's no disciplinary action needed?"

"No," Sara stated definitively, " He got the idea, and no harm done."

"Thank god" Brass whistled, "I really couldn't handle loosing another guy. These budget cuts have been killing the department, and I really couldn't condemn my guys to working the extra doubles that would be required to cover for someone on suspension."

Sara laughed. "Glad to help Jim. I've gotta make a few calls, I'll call you when I get the results back on the murder scene."

The call disconnected, and Catherine gave Sara a skeptical look. "You're gonna talk with the guy?"

"I'm going to present him with the evidence…and a piece of my mind." Her tone was such that Catherine decided not to argue.

The two women walked towards the break room, Sara contemplating what she was going to say to Eric Manson when she got the opportunity, and what she would say to Mary in response to the questions she was obviously going to get regarding her findings at the scene, and how she was going to handle the phone call to child services, the necessity of which was becoming greater and greater by the minute.

For the first time in her life, Sara Sidle had more questions than answers, and she didn't like the feeling.

A/N: Well, here you have it. I know my chapters are short, I guess that's just how I write. I like frequent pauses. It also makes it easier to update quickly :) But I'm looking for opinions from you guys- Mary is fourteen. Do you guys want Lindsay to be older, younger, or the same age? It will become very important later on in the story, so I'd value your thoughts. Please let me know in a review!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter. I appreciate the reviews I've been getting but pretty please can I have a few more? I'm averaging one review per chapter, and that's just sad… :(

On another note I realized that I had written a story very similar to this already titled "Lessons in Life", but I decided to take that one down for the sake of continuing this one, since I had left the other unfinished anyway.

Lastly, and yes I realize that I'm talking way too much here, I'm officially switching the story from third person to first person with alternating POV's between Sara and Catherine. I'm sorry if that's confusing, but I write much better in that format, and this story just isn't turning out as well as I had hoped it would. Hopefully this change will help improve the story. :)

Now… ONWARDS!

SARA POV:

I walked towards the break room next to Catherine, contemplating my current predicament. I knew I had to call DCS soon, but some part of me was avoiding it. It was a little bit terrifying to think of dealing with the system again, and besides, what if it wasn't what Mary wanted? Then there was the question of what to do with one Eric Manson, and what I was going to say to him. I wanted to kick him in the balls so hard that they came out his mouth then cut them off and feed them to him again, but honestly, that wouldn't do any good. I couldn't honestly promise myself or anyone else that I wouldn't do that however. The temptation was just too strong. But thoughts like that weren't helping me. What I needed was action.

Catherine seemed to read the indecision in my face and touched my arm, beginning to speak. I didn't hear any of what she said however because I was more focused on the sparks that seemed to be flying through my body at her touch. _Oh god no. I'm not starting to feel THAT way about CAT… am I?_

My thoughts were interrupted by the blonde calling my name. "Sara? You in there?"

I started and muttered "Yeah, I was off in my own little world I guess… What were you saying?"

"I was saying that you should probably talk to Mary about the whole adoption thing before you called DCS. Besides, it would give you something to do while you wait for the results of the homicide."

"Yeah, probably a good idea," I was still out of it, but I didn't want her to question my sanity over nothing, "If you get those results will you let me know?"

"Of course. Go talk to your daughter." The words, though not yet true, made me smile. I was going to have a daughter. I was going to be a mom. _Holy shit Sidle, you're going to be a mother… do you even know what that means?_

I pushed my doubts out of my mind. There was no room for them. I entered the break room to see just what Catherine had prepared me for- Mary, staring over Greg's shoulder while he sorted through a mound of paperwork a mile high. I couldn't help but laugh which drew the attention of both the CSI and his new second head in my direction. "Well," I said, "I'm glad you two are enjoying yourselves," at Greg's sour look I amended my statement, "Or at least Mary is. Sorry about the paperwork Greggo. I'm gonna steal your tagalong for a couple minutes okay?"

Greg's look soured even further "But she's making this slightly more interesting!"

I laughed "Greg, you'll have her back in a few minutes. Meanwhile, try not to fall asleep on your paperwork. If you drool you'll have to start all over again."

Greg shuddered at the thought, and dove back into the mound. Mary stood up, and I gestured for her to follow me outside. I wanted to take her outside of the lab entirely, since there were moles all over the walls of the crime lab, and I generally disliked having my business as the latest department gossip. I figured Mary wouldn't want her private life advertised either.

We made it outside and she immediately asked what was going on. I laughed "don't worry, I think I'm done dropping bombshells on you for today. No, I had an idea and I wanted to know what you thought of it. I'm going to have to call Child Services soon one way or another, and they're going to want to know if you can think of anyone who might want to adopt you, and I was thinking- how would you like to live with me?"

Mary's eyes lit up at that "Really? You would adopt me?"

I smiled at her "Absolutely, that is if there isn't somewhere you'd rather go?"

She shook her head "No, I don't have anywhere else to go, besides the system."

"It's settled then. I'll make the calls. Meanwhile, why don't you get back to harassing Greg? I think he needs the company. We wouldn't want him going insane now would we?"

She laughed out loud, but sombered quickly as we started walking back into the lab. "Sara? Did you get the results back?"

"I got better than the results," I told Mary, "We have Eric Manson behind bars. We have all we need to charge him for your rape, and hopefully soon we'll have what we need to get him for the murder of your father too."

"How did you get him?"

I winced slightly, I hadn't wanted to get into that with her, but I wasn't going to lie to her about it either. "Well, he was waiting for whoever decided to show up at the murder scene. I uh…apprehended him, and the on-scene officer put him under arrest. He was later identified as Eric Manson when we took his fingerprints down at the station."

But apparently my attempt to gloss over the finer details didn't go unnoticed by my soon-to-be daughter. She responded by saying "Well, you couldn't really arrest him just for being in a crime scene could you? And since you identified him when he got here, not out in the field, that means you didn't arrest him for rape or murder, since you weren't sure who he was. And CSIs don't apprehend suspects unless something else was going on. So what else happened?"

I laughed "You really do know a thing or two about CSI don't you? You have impressive deductive skills. Okay, well, since I'm clearly not going to be able to hide anything from you," I joked, "here's what really happened. The responding officer didn't clear the scene properly, and when I went to process your father's bedroom he came out of the closet and attacked me. At one point he pulled a knife at which point I THEN apprehended him, and he was placed under arrest for SUSPICION of murder, and for assault of a law enforcement officer."

"Ah, that sounds a lot more like it. Did he hurt you?" Mary asked with concern.

I shook my head "Nah, nothing I couldn't handle. Just a little scratch. I am trained in judo you know."

She stared at me with wonder in her eyes "Really? You do judo?" When I nodded, she continued "I'd always wanted to do that, but my dad…well… he couldn't have that now could he?"

"Well," I said, "If you're still interested, once we get all the DCS paperwork squared away, I'll get you enrolled in a class."

"Awesome! I'm gonna go find Greg!" Mary practically ran off. I was glad to see her happy, but also struck with a sense of melancholy, because I knew that she wasn't nearly out of the woods yet. Traumas like what she had to go through didn't disappear overnight.

But before I could deal with that I had to put in that dreaded phone call. Luckily it wasn't quite as bad as I had been afraid it would be. I got on the phone with a woman who seemed nice enough, explained the situation, and she said she would run a quick background check on me then fax me the paperwork if everything checked out. Then all I would have to do would be to fill it out, and fax it back to her. From there, a social worker would check in from time to time to make sure everything was good, but that was about it. I gave the woman my name and credentials, which were what she needed for the background check, provided her with the number for the fax machine in the break room, then thanked her for her time and hung up.

I was gonna go find Mary again and see what the two of them were up to when Catherine came around a corner, moving about as fast as your average blonde blur. "Woah, slow down Cat, what've you got?"

"Results," she panted, but managed to say the next three words with an abundance of satisfaction. "We've got him."

"Great!" I speed dialed Brass and told him I was ready for my interview, then booked it down to PD. I found Eric Manson waiting in one of the interrogation rooms, and entered, ignoring the pointed look Brass was giving me.

"Ahhhh" the creep said as I walked into the room "It's you again."

"Yeah." I said, as shortly as I could make it. "We have enough evidence to convict you of assault, rape, and murder… Do you want to confess, maybe make things easier for you?"

"Oh I thought I'd already confessed with the note I wrote on the wall. You guys aren't that bright are you?" _Great, the asshole is taunting me. This is going really well. _"Okay, I'll lay it out for you. I raped the little bitch, then I stabbed her father ten times, just to make a point. Don't you see Sidle? I never cared about getting caught."

Well, he clearly was observant. Even while he was on the verge of having his arm broken in three places he managed to remember the name that Smith had called me when he came into arrest him. Scary. But I wasn't too worried about that. "Then what did you care about?"

"That disgusting little bitch will never forget my name. She'll never forget the feeling of me inside of her. She'll be haunted by my face every night in her dreams for the rest of her life. That's what I care about. I want her to suffer, and she will. That's what she gets for turning me in."

I felt my anger rising but shoved it back down momentarily so I could get my last question out. "So it was revenge? For what? For making a complaint about you that never went anywhere anyway?"

"It wasn't about the complaint going anywhere. It was about the fact that she thought she had the right to make one anyway. She didn't have the right to say no. She's just a girl. Just like you. Women shouldn't have the right to say no to a man. They have one task in this world, just one- to submit when a man demands it. And she didn't fulfill her task. So I taught her a lesson." The sick part was, the bastard actually meant it.

I looked him right in the eye, standing up so as to gain a position of power over him. "Let me tell you something. It's one thing to have a sick chauvinistic idea of society. It's another thing to force someone that you have power over to submit to your disgusting ideas. I don't know what time period you think you're in, but this is 2010, and sick bastards like you aren't allowed to get away with forcing people who you see as a subordinate gender to have sex with you, just because you think it's right. Oh and my coworker- also a woman- and I will take great pleasure in putting you on death row. Enjoy what's left of your sick existence. Oh, and by the way, people who rape children? They get taken care of in prison. Have fun with that." I walked out before I did something that could get me fired or worse, then I just sat down against the nearest wall and drew in some deep breaths.

Brass found me a couple minutes later. "Don't even start with me Jim" I said wearily, "I know I said I wouldn't get angry at him, but did you even HEAR the things he said?"

He put his hand on my arm lightly. "I heard. Trust me, I don't blame you. I'm gonna take another crack at him myself. Don't worry, I think this can stay between us."

I stood up "Thanks Jim."

"No problem Sara, why don't you go find your victim and tell her it's over now." He suggested lightly.

"Actually," I said, "I need you and Sophia to come over to the crime lab for a few minutes… I have an announcement to make to the entire team." I smiled, knowing what that announcement was.

Approximately half an hour later I had the entire team gathered in the break room, minus Mary and Catherine. Cat already knew, and Mary didn't really need to be there for the onslaught of questions that I was probably about to get, or so I figured at least.

"Guys, I have an announcement to make. I consider all of you my extended family, so I wanted to let you all know about the newest addition to that family. I've decided to adopt Mary. The paperwork is still getting settled, but it should be finalized within the next 24 hours." I took a deep breath, waiting for what came next.

Everyone except Grissom started cheering. _Well that's good, at least they're taking it well._ The next few minutes were taken up by congratulations and well wishes and offers to help, etc. Then Greg started with the 'I never thought I'd see Sara become a Mom jokes', and those continued for a while. Finally I was able to make my way out of the mob and sit next to Grissom.

"You told me to find another way" I said gently.

He looked at me in a slightly strange way. "No I didn't. I told you that if you needed something more than just finding closure for the victim then you should talk to Catherine about it. I didn't think you would, I thought you guys still hated each other."

"We're friends Grissom" I said, trying not to think about my budding feelings towards the older woman which seemed to indicate more than friendship. "And she suggested this. I thought it was a great idea."

"Sara, are you sure you're ready for this?"

"No one's ever ready Grissom. But I'm sure that I have to try."

He nodded, and finally a smile broke over his face. "Then I'm happy for you. Congratulations."

For that moment, all seemed right with the world. Just then the fax machine beeped with the incoming adoption papers, and I was brought back to reality. Getting the team to accept my decision was just the beginning, it was what happened from here that would be the hard part.

A/N: So, this really is just the beginning. I've got a lot more topics that I plan to address in this story, not least of all the budding attraction that seems to be growing between Sara and Catherine. I'm still looking for opinions on Lindsay's age- do you guys want her older, younger, or the same age as Mary? Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: So I got three reviews this time. The sad part is that's actually a record for this story. Thanks to Erin Lyncan, Just-Justa, and Winter for your encouragement and opinions. Erin- I think you have it right. Since no one else offered an opinion on the subject, and that's what I was leaning towards anyway, Lindsay is going to be fifteen. Winter- That's definitely going to be a big part of this story, and will start to be incorporated very soon :) Just-Justa- Nice to see a returning reader, thanks for the encouragement, I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

SARA POV:

I saw the papers coming out of the fax machine and instantly knew what they were- no one uses that thing besides me, and not very often. I took the forms out one by one, until I had a stack of papers a good half inch thick in my hand. Sighing, I sat down and started filling them out.

About fifteen minutes in, Catherine and Mary came back, "Oooh is that more paperwork?" Mary asked, sounding like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Uh sorta" I said, "but not the kind that's interesting. This is the adoption paperwork."

"Oh good," she said, "I can help you with those. I can fill out all the stuff about me, that should make things easier for you."

I laughed at her seeming inability to sit around and do nothing. She was a lot like me in that way. "Okay, if you want." I said, "But it might be a bit boring."

Catherine laughed too. "Watch out Sara, we're going to have another you running around here in a couple years if you aren't careful…"

I scoffed "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Well…" she joked. "Nah I'm just messing with you. But in all seriousness, Grissom put me on a new case, but let me know if you need any help with any of," she gestured at the papers skewed haphazardly around me "this. Or anything else for that matter."

I grabbed her hand instinctively and squeezed it for a moment before I realized what I was doing. "Thanks" I muttered, trying to cover my extreme embarrassment.

She hid her surprise, but not well. "Uh.. No problem. See you…later…then."

I managed a very eloquent "uhuh," but she was already out of the room, leaving Mary and I to the load of papers, which was slowly but surely diminishing now that the two of us were making progress.

About an hour or so later we had each finished our halves of the paperwork, and put them back together in the proper order. Then I faxed them in. A few minutes later the machine beeped again, and grunted out another sheet of paper saying that my request had been "Temporarily approved" and would be "Permanently approved following investigation." Gotta love DCS.

I showed it to Mary who smiled brightly and gave me a quick hug before stepping back and looking at me nervously, as if she was waiting for me to yell at her. Instead I just smiled and said "Well, we should probably go shopping, my guess is you're going to need…well…everything."

She looked at me shyly, "I don't really have any money…"

I laughed "I'm your mother now. I'm supposed to buy things for you. Besides, I've lived alone, and bought nothing but the bare necessities for my tiny apartment and takeout for about eight years now. I've got a pretty good amount of money saved up."

"Are you sure?" she asked. I was really going to have to work on this girl.

"Absolutely."

We left the lab and drove, after getting directions from Catherine, to the mall. Neither of us had actually ever been there, so it was quite the experience for both of us. It was around four stories tall, and walking from one end to the other at a near run took over an hour. I asked Mary where she wanted to go to get clothes, and when she couldn't even think of any store names, we just wandered from place to place. Each time we went to buy something she told me that she had plenty, and each time I overruled her, knowing that she didn't have nearly enough.

When we finally got enough clothes we were quite laden down, so we went back to the car and dumped the first round of bags before diving back in for furniture and other basic teen necessities. I found myself really enjoying spoiling the girl, knowing how much she deserved it. We managed to find a dresser, bed frame, mattress, and a desk from a store that agreed to move it to my apartment. Then we went to the apple store and got her an Iphone, and a laptop, even though she tried to argue with me. I told her she would need a cell phone, and that she might as well have the best, that way she could play her music on it too. And she would need the laptop for school, regardless. She thanked me for five minutes straight before she got so winded that she had to stop.

"Let's just get some food" I suggested.

"Okay" she said, and we went off in search of the food court. It took us about half an hour to find, but when we did it was worth it. There was just about every restaurant under the sun, even a vegetarian place. I stopped off there, while Mary chose taco bell.

We sat down at one of the tables and started eating. "Sara," she asked, "are you sure this is okay? I mean, can you really afford to spend this much money on me?"

I grabbed her hand. "Yes. I can, and even if I couldn't I would find a way to do it because you deserve it. Now stop worrying. I promise you it's okay."

"Well, thank you" she said for about the millionth time that day.

"You're welcome" I smirked, "You done?"

"Yep."

"Good," I said, "Let's go home."

So we drove home, making it just in time for the furniture delivery. I directed the big burly men into my guest bedroom, which thank god had never been used for anything at all, and had them set everything up the way Mary wanted it. Once they were gone we decorated the room together with the curtains that we had bought, and the posters, and I helped her put all of her new stuff away. By the time we were done, it really did look like a fourteen year old girl's room.

"Do you like it?" I asked the girl standing next to me.

"I love it!" she exclaimed in awe.

"I'm glad." I gave her a hug. "Now why don't we set up that laptop so you can start putting music on your Iphone, then I'll let you get settled for a bit okay?"

She agreed. I quickly installed the necessary software on her laptop, and handed it to a beaming Mary, who immediately started downloading music. I left her to it, shutting her door behind me and went to make some coffee. Then I decided to give Catherine a call, just to check in on her and let her know how things were coming here.

She picked up on the third ring. "Hey Sara. How's it going?"

"Good," I replied, "we just finished setting up her room and everything. She seems to be settling in well."

I could hear her smile through the phone. "That's great, see, you are a good mother. Hey, I've got an idea, why don't I come over with Lindsay, that way the girls can meet and all that."

"Sounds great. How soon will you be here?"

"Give me half an hour. I've gotta pick Lindsay up and home, and honestly, I think you'll like me better if I put on a fresh change of clothes."

"Well," I joked, "I'd appreciate that, but I'd love you if you came over right after finishing processing a dumpster." I caught myself again long after the fact, and blushed outwardly.

She didn't seem phased however. "Good to know Sidle, I'll keep that in mind. See you in thirty." The call disconnected, and I found myself really looking forward to seeing her. I went upstairs, actually looked in a mirror, and decided to change. _Weird,_ I thought, _ I never do that for any of the guys when they come over. Ugh. I really am falling for Catherine. But is that really such a bad thing?_ Chances are it probably was a really bad thing, especially since it wasn't likely that Catherine returned the feeling, but I pushed it aside. _Oh well, you can't pick who you fall in love with. _

CATHERINE POV:

I was ecstatic that I'd get to see Sara soon, and introduce my daughter to hers. Her voice made it seem like she was just as excited to see me as well, but I refused to read too much into it. If she didn't feel the same way, then I didn't want to get my hopes up.

I drove home as fast as legally possible, and practically ran up the stairs to change my clothes, banging on my daughter's door- closed as usual- shouting at her that we were going to Sara's house. "Mom… what's the emergency?"

My daughter saw right through me. Great. "No emergency honey, I'm just running a little late is all. But you should know, Sara just adopted a daughter, I want you to meet her and make her feel comfortable okay? She really hasn't had the best life and she'll probably need somebody right now, somebody close to her own age, that she can talk to."

"Okay," my daughter's true character shined through for a moment with that one word, as she set aside her normal teenage angst and annoying habits for the good of someone else. It was moments like those that made me feel like I had done something right. "How old is she?"

"A year younger than you, but trust me babe she seems a lot older than she is."

"Alright. Sure Mom, I'll do whatever I can to help. What happened to her exactly?" Finally, my daughter's maturity was beginning to surface.

"Well," I said slowly, "It's not really my story to tell, but I'll give you the short version so you don't get surprised. I want you to pretend you don't know though so she can tell you herself, okay?" She nodded, so I filled her in.

By the end my daughters fifteen year old eyes were beginning to fill with tears at the injustices of the world. "I know Sweetie. It's not right. But that's why I do what I do. That way I can make sure someone makes it right, now let's go."

A/N

It's too short. I know it's too short. But I didn't have it in me to write the upcoming Sara/ Cat scene which would've made it too long, and I really owed you guys an update. So at least this is something, even if it is a filler chapter.


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